Sahlen's Chumpyard Dog at the Glen

[DuncanDana]

 

Greetings All,

 

Day 1 of the Sahlen's Chumpyard Dog at the Glen, RVA Graphics and Wraps ChumpCar race is in the books.

 

Final results can be found here:  https://speedhive.mylaps.com/Sessions/4403148

 

And now, Day 2 is in the books, results can be found here: https://speedhive.mylaps.com/Sessions/4408400

 

Thanks to everyone for a great weekend!

 

Dana

_____________________________

Race Write-up------

ChumpCar World Series Race #10

Sahlens Chumpyard Dog at the Glen

May 27 & 28, 2017 Double 7 Watkins Glen International

 

The ChumpCar World Series returned to the iconic Watkins Glen International track on Memorial Day weekend, May 27th and 28th on the 3.4-mile full course track.  The Double 7 race featured a strong field of 102 starters with 7 0f the top 10 cars returning to defend their results from 2016.

 

The tight track confines of WGI necessitate full course yellows to pick up stranded cars on track, so the field stays bunched up leading to some frenetic passing for position with multiple cars on the same lap as the clock winds down. Pit stops under yellow and off sequence are the norm as teams try to minimize the effects of the minimum 5-minute stops for fuel. The 2017 race looked to continue more of the same close racing!!!

 

Saturday’s start under foreboding skies with rain threatening was marked by numerous full course yellows (FCY), the most serious coming at just over an hour into the race when the two leaders, #991 Guarino-Watson Racing 325i and the #7 Ecotec Miata, split a slower car exiting turn 11 onto the main straight. The GWR on the inside was destroyed when he failed to completely clear the #279 Civic, came across his front bumper, and spun himself into the wall. The GWR driver having pinballed between the unforgiving Armco barriers was visibly upset but unharmed after the incident.

 

 

By the halfway point of the race, a number of the pre-race favorites were knocked out of contention with various problems including the McKibbens Biohazard MR2, the Simon Says 1992 Integra, and the sad demise of the GWR BMW in a scary incident. Predictably, the two R Bank Racing Saab 9-3s ran 1-2 followed closely by the BMWs of #48 Thomlinson Racing and Team BlitzKreig #242. The #107 Eclipse of Tuttle Motorsports, and the Beast Mode Integra #116. The BogieMen #78 and FastHog #169 BMWs held onto 7th and 8th with the title sponsor, Sahlen’s “Mustard” RX-7 (one of the 3 car team entries) in 9th being chased by the Bonehead Racing #346 E46 in 10th.

 

The next four hours of the race saw very few new entries into the top 15 positions with the notable exception of the #195 R Bank Racing Saab dropping out completely, and the Team Jacky Ickx #66 3000GT making a strong charge through the field having found their normal fast pace on a track they had never been to. The field was continually being bunched up by the Sahlens’ pace car during FCYs which were occurring on a frustratingly, almost predictable basis.

 

While slowing up the overall pace of the race, the FCYs did keep the field bunched up and the next several hours were handled like mini sprint races, with the action near the front at a frenetic pace for positions 4-15. The #90 R Bank Racing entry still lead, but could not put any appreciable distance between themselves and the Beast Mode Integra #116, and they were soon joined by a new threat from the #7 Ecotec Miata which had slowly (not really as they had FTD with a blistering 2:12.661) climbed steadily up through the field after a wheel bearing failure 2 hours into the race cost them 2 laps while they fixed the car during a yellow.

 

While the positions of the top 3 cars on the lead lap remained somewhat predictable with one hour to go, the racing action of the next 6 cars, all two laps down to the leaders, was anything but predictable. The pace was furious as positions on track were changing lap by lap, with the 10th-12th place cars having their own battles another lap down.

 

In the last hour, of those cars that were 2 and 3 laps down, there were 26 position changes, 12 of them in the last 15 minutes!!!! A late caution with 12 minutes to go saw the #90 get a clear track in their windshield, while the Beast Mode Integra was faced with passing the 10 cars separating them in line when the green flag waved once more with 6 minutes to go. To their credit, they managed to get within 6.7 seconds when the checkered flag fell; BOTH cars having set their fastest time of the day on the last lap!!!

 

The Ecotec Miata was lucky to hang onto 3rd overall, having run out of fuel with 2 laps to go as the next 12 cars put on quite a show. No less than 6 of these cars had their fastest time of the day in the last 5 laps of the race, and when the dust had settled, 10 positions had changed hands by the time the checkered flag had fallen over the field. By far the most dramatic pass for position was the drag race out of the last corner towards the start finish line between the M Bros Racing BMW and the Team Jacky Ickx #66 Mitsubishi 3000GT, the 325i eeking out a 4/100s margin over the GT.

 

Rounding out the top 10 was the #107 Eclipse from Tuttle Motorsports, the BMWs of Thomlinson Racing and Bimmerline’s #336, and the Fasthog Racing 325 EC class BMW splitting two of the Sahlens’ Racing three entries, that of the Mustard #943 and the #942 Ketchup Mazda RX-7s.

 

Sunday’s race looked to be even more competitive since the threat of rain had largely passed, new teams had figured out that with FCYs the norm they could pit under yellow, and teams had made corrections to their race strategy. A mad scramble on pit row for the start found 90 cars able to take the green with the #90 Saab from R Bank Racing one margin of victory lap down to the field.

 

On the scramble to line up behind the pace car, the Saab found itself near the front.  And when the first yellow fell not 8 minutes into the race, the result of a blown engine in turn 1, they were able to get their lap back very early in the race. Perhaps the collective groan from pit row was drowned out by the noise of the engines? By the time 2 hours of racing had passed, the top 15 cars looked very much the same as Saturday’s finish.

 

 

Almost predictably, the #90 car had found their way to the front and ran in 4th place and the 2nd entry from Team Jacky Ickx, the #935 3000GT, ran in 10th. painted in Martini livery to compliment the Gulf colors on the #66 running in P6.  Tuttle was once again up there as was Beast Mode and Troxell Racing’s 325i followed closely by Bimmerline. Of note was the Mercedes 190e from Superb Racing running in 8th having sat out Saturday’s race the result of a Friday testing accident that saw the entire front body work torn off the car. It was a fast car despite the handicap of a large radiator hanging in front, looking like an old “back in the day” NASCAR damaged short track car.

 

Pit stops during FCYs (which continued to pop up occasionally) kept the field pretty jumbled up in the standings, but the cream of the crop of racers still eventually made back their positions and would regularly appear where you thought they should be running. Just before the 3rd hour was logged, the #260 300ZX of Z Team Racing went hard into the turn 6 wall, perhaps due to brake failure. Not one hour later, the leading Beast Mode Racing Integra blew his radiator in turn 10 and slipping and sliding on his own fluids plowed hard into the outside turn 11 wall.

 

The next several hours played out almost exactly as Saturday’s race had, some newcomers to the top 15, but plenty of changes within those cars for position. It had taken 4 hours for the #90 Saab to reassert itself as the leader and they would never look back, only relinquishing the #1 position for fuel stops. They were dogged by the M Bros BMW for the rest of the race, but the R Bank entry kept maintaining a somewhat comfortable margin of some 15-20 seconds though they limped across the finish line very low on fuel.

 

At the end of another seven hours of racing the Team Troxell #325 had improved their Saturday finish of 12th to a solid 3rd, the Bimmerline 325 from 8th to 4th, and the Thomlinson EC class BMW from 7th to 5th. New to the top 10 saw the GMS RX-7 finish 6th and the Team Jacky Ickx #935 replacing the #66 team entry which had busted a radiator around the 5 hour mark while running in 6th.

 

Rounding out the top 10 were the BMWs of Red Cow Racing and Bonehead Racing with the McKibbins Biohazard MR2 overcoming their Saturday problems to finish 10th. While the position changes on Sunday were not as dramatic as the previous day’s race, there were 6 cars on the lead lap at the finish, 3 entries one lap in arrears, and 3 more competitors 2 laps down.

 

The Ecotec Mazda Miata once again set FTD at a 2:14.473 but finished a disappointing 49th place. The Beast Mode Racing, Tuttle Motorsports, and Sahlens’ teams were also unable to match their Saturday finishes, although the two sister Sahlens’ entries, Ketchup and Charcoal, managed top 15 finishes.

 

 

_____________________________

Video Links - 
Friday  and Saturday Garage Walks - 

 

 

 

Saturday Race 

 

 

Sunday part 1>

 

Sunday Part 2

 

[Ray Franck]

Congratulations R Bank ..    Freedom ain't free   ,, thanks to all that gave and those who gave all .. Memorial Day ,,  at the Glen      now thats Murica ...  

[Andrew D Johnson]

Congrats RBank Racing!

[Racer28173]

Great chump cast at the end there.  Nice to see that Bill had a camera man for the interviews.  Every race the coverage gets better!!!

[Andrew D Johnson]

Great coverage from the chumpcast crew today.

[enginerd]

I could only watch the first 3 hours of coverage but it was on point! Improvements from previous shows were: 1) Off-track cameras were less choppy and had good visibility 2) Track side interviews and updates on cars who were doing repairs mid race were great

 

Can't wait to watch the rest of the broadcast!

[Doc]

12 hours ago, Racer28173 said:

Great chump cast at the end there.  Nice to see that Bill had a camera man for the interviews.  Every race the coverage gets better!!!

Thanks!!! And remember to share the broadcast with your friends!!! The more viewers we get the longer Facebook allows us to stream before rebooting it!!!

[Doc]

3 hours ago, enginerd said:

I could only watch the first 3 hours of coverage but it was on point! Improvements from previous shows were: 1) Off-track cameras were less choppy and had good visibility 2) Track side interviews and updates on cars who were doing repairs mid race were great

 

Can't wait to watch the rest of the broadcast!

Thanks!!! We can't do much for the cameras due to bandwidth. We had none other than Ms Chisek feeding us info from race central so we are not limited to just what we can see. It helps TREMENDOUSLY!!!

[Team Infiniti]

Where is a direct youtube link, for some reason I am unable to play the embedded vids

[Boy Blunder]

I'm watching here

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Ie5oXra_L8

 

[pintodave]

Torn like an old sweater! 6 laps to go @ indy, 5 minutes to go at the Glen! 

 

You know what we are watching.....

[Team Infiniti]

Thanks for the link

Distractions all day, finally back and it's over

[Racer28173]

Great to see the tribute to Michael Schumacher, Paul Newman, and Nicky Hayden in the broadcast.  Three amazing racers, but only one lived a full life....    On the positive side (trying to find one), 30 years ago it seemed like so many racers like Michael and Nicky died while racing - today with all of the safety advances in racing, they largely completed their careers and risks outside of racing took their toll. 

Man I will miss seeing Nicky on a motorcycle......

Edited May 28, 2017 by Racer28173

[Racer28173]

8 minutes ago, Racer28173 said:

Great to see the tribute to Michael Schumacher, Paul Newman, and Nicky Hayden in the broadcast.  Three amazing racers, but only one lived a full life....    On the positive side (trying to find one), 30 years ago it seemed like so many racers like Michael and Nicky died while racing - today with all of the safety advances in racing, they largely completed their careers and risks outside of racing took their toll. 

Man I will miss seeing Nicky on a motorcycle......

And we almost had to add Scott Dixon to that list.   Holy crap he was lucky to come away from that crash!   

[karman1970]

15 minutes ago, Racer28173 said:

And we almost had to add Scott Dixon to that list.   Holy crap he was lucky to come away from that crash!   

 

Indeed. I was sitting on the back straight and you can't see the jumbotrons or hear the PA system. Fortunately someone close had a boombox with the broadcast on. Heard about it and jogged all the way down to turn three to catch a glimpse of the replay. Didn't get to see much, but it looked pretty nasty.

[Ray Franck]

On 5/27/2017 at 6:02 PM, okkustom said:

Congratulations R Bank ..    Freedom ain't free   ,, thanks to all that gave and those who gave all .. Memorial Day ,,  at the Glen      now thats Murica ...  

  Usually don't have to repeat myself    

 

[Bill Strong]

Thanks for the props! I am worn out! 

Some awesome racing this weekend! 

 

 

[Racer28173]

Rob Troxell beat me to the punch, giving a shout out to Scott Pruett's family at home.  D4mn!   I had planned to use that line in my next interview!!   

 

[csadn]

4 hours ago, Racer28173 said:

[...]30 years ago it seemed like so many racers like Michael and Nicky died while racing - today with all of the safety advances in racing, they largely completed their careers and risks outside of racing took their toll.

Pity the sprint-car and midget fans can't say the same -- David Steele this year, Bryan Clauson the year before, not to mention however-many lesser lights over the past few years.

Does rather put in perspective how fortunate this series has been so far.

[drKorf]

Great weekend of racing. I feel bad for the cars that never got on track and those that left early.

 

Queued up for the punt 'cause I know that's want you want to see. It was a pretty hard hit, and I suspected the damage would be much worse than it was. I'm surprised that the #169 driver didn't come by to say hey. Also surprised that the contact didn't generate a black flag.

 

 

[mostmint]

1 hour ago, drKorf said:

Great weekend of racing. I feel bad for the cars that never got on track and those that left early.

 

Queued up for the punt 'cause I know that's want you want to see. It was a pretty hard hit, and I suspected the damage would be much worse than it was. I'm surprised that the #169 driver didn't come by to say hey. Also surprised that the contact didn't generate a black flag.

 

 

We also had contact with the 169 near the apex of the last turn.  I'll see if I can dig up the video.  I left the incident thinking it was his fault but I'm still learning...

 

I went by their garage space after the race a couple times and got a pic of the contact but no one was there. 

[DRVOLKS]

I wish to thank ever one at Chump, nice to meet you Bill and your team too. I will say all chumpers are great people. This was my wife's first time at the Glen she loved it. ever one was so nice.

The Beetle was not happy from the get go keep blowing off boost hoses friday then I found a brake fluid leaking some where from clutch slave hose. We changes the o-ring  only to find Sat morning it was the line its self leaking. had to go to junk yard to find a replacement. In all my years fixing VW/Audi never saw a line leak there???

After blowing off the hose in the first few laps we screwed and wired ever hose together  only to see the coolant tank going low!! I had a feel it was a head gasket going.

Tom M and Tom T my drivers where helping out every second . On a good note they both said is was the best handling car the ever drove !!  but as Tom T was starting to push it passed the 2.30 marker it whet bang .

The sad part is I spent weeks going over ever inch tightening and swapping worn parts. But that is racing!!

Bob Mann

www.DRVOLKS.com

bobtec@comcast.net

 

 

[DEE DEE]

drKorf  at 5:57 your driver passed under a double yellow & I believe head cams are not allowed 

[drKorf]

30 minutes ago, DEE DEE said:

drKorf  at 5:57 your driver passed under a double yellow & I believe head cams are not allowed 

 

I own that one. I should have been flagged there. I also was passed twice under yellow (2 cars in 1 corner and another later) and none of the cars were flagged.

 

I didn't know about the head cam rule. I guess the pit out guy didn't either. But there it is in BCR 9.18.1.

 

In review, I found that watching the video was slightly off-putting with the camera angle changing all the time. It's not a great place to put a camera even if legal.

Edited May 29, 2017 by drKorf
corrections

[DEE DEE]

I was in the 47 miata  at the time and was passed under the yellow by the black miata also.

 My guess is that the pit out person did not see your camera because of the net maybe.  Great racing with you lots of fun.  I wish our 1.6 had a bit more power on the straights.